Silvia
A surname from a Latin word meaning “of the woods” or “woodland.”
The #6,206 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 56,024 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Silvia ultimately goes back to Latin silva, meaning “forest” or “woods.” In Roman use, it was a feminine personal name and later a family name connected with the idea of woodland or someone associated with the woods. As a surname, it is most naturally understood as a hereditary form of that older personal name rather than a direct occupational or place-name label.
History
The name is common as a given name in Romance-language countries, and in some cases that personal name later became a surname. Its presence in English-language records is often tied to Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese immigration, though spellings can vary. Because the historical excerpts here only show incidental examples, the surname’s exact local history cannot be pinned down from them alone.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Silvia and Sylvia are closely related forms: both go back to the same Latin woodland root.
From the historical record
“Liege, died in Spain in 1742 ; Andrew, the fourth son, a col- onel of horse in the French service, married a lady named Magdalene Silvia de St. Herniione, described as a lieutenant- general in the French army. (Douglas' Peerage, vol. i. p. 221, Wood's edition.) By her he had a son, designed Count de Melfort, a…”
— The Scottish Nation, vol. 3